Chapter 4

I was in the middle of packing my last box when Ethan appeared in the doorway of my dorm room. He stood there, arms crossed, his shadow falling over me.

"What do you think you're doing?" he demanded, his voice low and dangerous.

I didn't look up from the box. "Packing."

Behind him, I saw Lily peek around his legs. Her eyes, wide and curious, held a flicker of triumph. She was getting exactly what she wanted.

For a moment, I was tempted to tell him everything. To tell him about the ten-year program, about the complete and total separation he was forcing upon me. To see if it would break through the wall of indifference he had built around himself.

But then I looked at his hard, unforgiving face, and the words died in my throat. He wouldn't believe me. He would just think it was another one of my "dramas."

So I lied.

"I'm moving out," I said, taping the box shut. "I'm getting my own place."

His expression softened, but only slightly. The anger was replaced by a familiar, patronizing disapproval.

"Don't be ridiculous, Anna," he said. "You can't afford your own place. Are you doing this just to make us feel bad? To make a point?"

"No," I said, standing up and facing him. "I'm doing this for me. I need to get out of that house."

His face darkened again. The mention of our home, the home he was now sharing so happily with Lily, was a trigger.

"Is it because of me?" Lily's small voice piped up, her lower lip trembling. "Do you hate me that much, Anna?"

I looked at her, at the practiced innocence, and felt nothing but exhaustion. "This isn't about you, Lily."

Her eyes gleamed with a satisfaction she was too young to hide completely. She had won.

"If you walk out that door, Anna, don't you dare think about coming back," Ethan threatened, his voice dropping to a growl.

I didn't answer. I just picked up my suitcase and walked towards the door. The single suitcase held everything I cared to take with me from a life that was already over.

I brushed past him, the fabric of my coat scraping against his.

"Get out!" he roared from behind me. "And don't ever come back!"

As I walked down the long, sterile hallway, his final words echoed behind me, a curse that would follow me into the rain-streaked night.

"I wish you were never my sister!" Liam's voice, full of venom, was the last thing I heard from the home I was leaving forever. The rain started to fall then, cold and steady, mingling with the tears I refused to let them see.